AMSF Scholarship Recipients

From 1970 to 1990, nearly 200 individual Angolans at higher levels of education were supported with bursaries from AMSF. By 1995, an additional 100 Angolans had received training in secondary and university education with financial assistance from AMSF. The organization continues to work to support Angolans in their educational endeavers. Here are some of their stories:

Dorotheia Handanga

Dorotheia Handanga is a single mother, the father of her child having disappeared in the confusion of the civil war in Angola. Dorotheia was supported by $16,450 US from AMSF during her final year of secondary school in Angola and during her entire course in medicine in Lisbon, Portugal. Dorotheia wrote to Rev. Whitney Dalrymple, then President of AMSF, about her education: “There were years of much hard work, sacrifice, and limitations on my activities...but I am pleased to report to you that I never failed to pass my exams at the end of each academic year.” Dorotheia said that with God’s help and the support of many people, including you, our donors, she was able to concentrate on caring for her son and on her studies instead of working. Christian leaders like Dorotheia will make a difference in the future of Angola.

Albertina Julia Hamukwaya

Albertina, the daughter of Rev. Henrique Daniel Etaungo, was born in the Andulo area of central Angola. In the 1980s, Albertina pursued a course in medicine in Lisbon, Portugal. AMSF invested $14,600 US in her education over a period of 8 years. Married to a lawyer, Albertina is anxious to return to Angola to help her people and sends her appreciation to AMSF and especially to her donors, including a retired public health nurse. Donations from caring friends like you are helping to make a difference in delivering health care to Angolans.

Rev. Rodrigues and Raquel Sepolo

A student of Dr. Allen Knight, Rev. Rodrigues Sepolo studied agriculture at Currie Institute in Dondi. He was ordained into the ministry and served the Church of Christ of Central Angola. Rev. Sepolo was imprisoned by the Portuguese colonial government and upon his release, he fled to southeastern Angola to continue his ministry. With the extra assistance from Seeds for Africa, Rev. Sepolo and his wife, Raquel were able to help provide garden and field crop seeds to many people in their community.

Manuel Pascoal Lopes

With the civil war raging in his homeland, Manuel Pascoal Lopes was forced to flee Angola. He wanted to study Business Administration at the University of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Awards from AMSF in the amount of $6,000 US over 4 years made that possible. In 1993 Manuel Pascoal Lopes fulfilled his promise of returning to Angola to help his people. It was a long and difficult road back that included the pillaging of his belongings by Congolese police. He became the Inspector of Schools for the Angola Mennonite Church based in Luanda. Projects under his leadership include the erection of six classrooms made of sun-dried bricks, all with voluntary labour, to facilitate the schooling of an entire generation of illiterate youngsters.

Odette Chipeio

Odette fled the violence in Angola with her family and settled temporarily in Namibia in 1976. Her family had no funds to pay for her school fees. AMSF supported her for three years during her secondary school studies. She followed that foundation with a degree in Nursing Education at the University of Namibia. For two years she worked in a hospital to earn enough money to continue her studies and then, with the help from AMSF once again, Odette enrolled in an Advanced Course in Nursing Education with the goal of returning to Angola to train nurses and health care workers.

CLICK HERE TO READ A SAMPLING OF LETTERS THAT SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS HAVE SENT TO AMSF.